Shattered But Not Broken(Whiz Kids Fan Fiction)
by Matthew Labyorteaux Fan
Summary: Note: The actor who plays Albert in LHOTP played Richie in Whiz Kids. There wasn't a section for that. It's 1984, Jessica just lost her mother and is facing some hard battles. When something bad happens to her, she meets a boy named Richie. Will their love and passion will take them further together using his talents and her skills? Will they end the harm that has been done to her?
1. Chapter 1

I was walking down the pavement sidewalk with my head down, still petrified of what happened a few nights before. My mother had passed away and I didn't know what to do. I was too sad and scared to talk about it to anyone. My father passed away shortly after I was born with leukemia, so I couldn't talk to him. So I was left with nobody

I was looking around at my surroundings, admiring the day and the warm breeze. It felt good that there weren't many people in sight because I just needed some alone time right now. There was only a group of four kids, who looked about my age, walking a few yards away from me.

I'm the kind of person who is always observant of her surroundings because I have seen too many movies where people get kidnapped or even killed just because they weren't paying attention when they were alone. I would always tell myself, Jessica, you would do great in those movies because for the most part, you are observant.

I started drifting away from my surroundings because I was thinking about my mom and how we used to go on walks together. It was a good place to relax. I would come here sometimes by myself to escape from life whenever I felt frustrated or unsettled. And since I wanted to escape from people right now, I came here. I also kept thinking about where I was staying for the passed few days. It didn't feel like a home but the people there were doing their best to try and find me a good home with a loving family since I don't have any family left and no friends, i'd have nowhere to go.

A few moments passed and I started to look around again. The pavement led to a field. Since it was summer, California was hot, especially in Calabasas, where I lived.

I was wearing a pastel orange, short sleeved shirt with one of my pairs of acid washed denim jean shorts.

I kept getting the feeling that was being followed or watched, but when I looked around, there still wasn't anybody around except for the kids I saw earlier, but they were farther away now and probably wouldn't be able to see me if they turned around. Maybe it was my mom watching over me.

In front of me were woods. I hated woods.

There was a gust of wind and the trees rattled. I heard a twig snap. I jumped, but then came to my senses. I reminded myself that I should stop being so paranoid about stupid things like a twig snapping. It was probably just an animal anyways.

I kept walking until I heard another twig snap, closer now but not right up on me. I didn't look into the woods that time but I did decide to start heading back.I looked at my swatch and saw that it was about 1:30pm.

I heard another twig snap. I got a little freaked out at this point so I decided to jog in the other direction, back to where I was staying but a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey little lady." A deep voice said.

I swung around and looked into the woods. I didn't see anything but then my eyes met something behind a huge rock. I saw the head of an older man peaking at me. The man was probably in his mid forties and he had an evil grin on his face. I could tell that he was missing some of his teeth and was probably a rag considering the kid of dirty clothes he was wearing.

"Whatcha doin' here all alone near the forest?" The man asked in a creepy, menacing tone. He sounded like he was the type of person that would kidnap kids and use them in all the wrong ways.

My first instinct was to scream. Maybe the kids I saw earlier could hear me and come for help. "HELP!" I yelled as loud as I could. He was probably a child predator.

Most people would think that I should run but I was already frozen in fear. I haven't been in this sort of situation before.

He slowly moved away from the rock he was hiding under to reveal his whole body. He had on old, raggedy clothes and had a camera dangling around his neck. He was probably taking photos of me. That's disgusting, I thought. He slowly pulled one hand out of his pocket to reveal a gun. He pointed it at me.

I stood there, frozen in fear and didn't know what to do. I'm dead. I thought to myself. That's it. I'm gonna die right here, right now.

"It's okay little lady." He said. "I won't hurt you, as long as you do what I say and don't tell anyone." He walked towards me. "You got that?"

I couldn't answer, I was still thinking of a way to get out of this situation.

"I'll keep you safe." He said as he tightly gripped my arm and pulled me towards him.

A few more seconds went passed and I realized what he was trying to get me to do. I had enough strength left in me and I was fed up with this nonsense. He can't do this to me. I gathered up enough saliva in my mouth and spit directly into his cold, dark eyes. I yelled, "Don't touch me you dirty pervert," as I yanked my arm out of his wrinckly hand and made a run for it. I ran a few feet an I thought I could actually get away from this creep.

That was until I heard a bang and a sharp, unbarable pain shot up my right leg.

I screamed in agony as I fell to the ground. I managed to take a look at my leg. That dirty bastard just shot me. I felt like I was dying. I was in so much pain.

I glanced over at the woods and saw the man running away.

"HELP!" I screamed. "HELP!" I knew that no one would hear me but it was worth a shot. I had to be strong.

I looked back at my leg and saw blood pouring out of the wound. I clenched and but my lip as I looked around. I saw a few people running towards me. Maybe they were coming to save me. "HELP!" I yelled, hoping they would hear me.

I dropped my head back to the ground as I was loosing all of my senses. Between my blurry vision, I could see the people come up to me and kneel beside me, one of them screaming for help.

I just waited.

My eyes fluttered shut and my body went weak.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes opened and I blinked. I squinted my eyes as I saw a light. It was like when you first wake up after a nights rest, and somebody turned on the light.

As my eyes adjusted to the light, I was thinking to myself, where am I? I heard a beeping noise coming from next to me. I slowly turned my head to see a ECG. Am I at the hospital? I thought. Why am I here? What happened?

I felt pressure on my leg. And then it came back to me, the whole thing. I turned my head and looked at the table that was next to the bed that I was lying on. My eyes met a note.

I lifted my body into a upright position. It ached when I moved. "Ah." I sighed in pain. My leg was throbbing so I tried to put less weight on it. It didn't do much but it did enough so I wouldn't scream.

I reached for the note that was on the table. There was a pill and a glass of water next to it. I picked up the piece of paper.

I picked up the pill and put it in mouth. I gabbed the glass of water and swallowed. I could feel the pill sliding down my throat. My throat was dry so I took another big gulp of water.

The pain was almost fully relieved within forty-five minutes. I looked at the clock on he wall and saw that it was 11:30. It must be the next day.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," I said looking at the door.

A lady poked her head into the room. "Miss... there's a few people here that want to see you. Are you feeling well enough?"

"Yeah," I said. I wondered who it could be because I had no friends and no family. It must be a mistake.

Four kids, my age, came into the room. I was surprised to see that they were the same people that I saw on the feild the previous day when I got shot.

There were three boys and one girl.

"Hello." One of the boys said.

"Hi." I responded.

"Umm... we just wanted to see how you were doing." The girl said. "We saw what happened yesterday and we rushed you here when the man went back into the woods."

I nodded. "Thank you. Was my leg really that bad?"

"Well, considering that you had a bullet in your leg, kind of made it a serious situation." One of the other boys said.

The boy on the far right said, "We thought you were dead when we came over to you."

I showed a small smile.

One of the boys introduced all if them. He had a kind, gentle smile. "Umm... my name is Richie and these are my friends, Ham, Jeremy, and Alice."

"It's nice meeting you," I said. "My name is Jessica."

We all made small talk and got to know all of them. They seemed like nice people. I especially liked Richie.

He was a kind person who had an interest in everything that I said in a non-stalkerish way. He had dark brown hair that was kind of puffy. He had dark brown eyes that glistened. He had black glasses. He also had a gental smile.

When they all left, I was a little disappointed because now I was lonely again in this stupid hospital room again.

A little while later, a lady came into the room. I could tell that she was a nurse by the clothes that she was wearing.

"Hi Jessica, how are you doing?" She asked me while taking a seat next to the bed I was propped up on.

"I'm doing good," I responded. I looked at my leg and then back at the nurse. "What will they do to my leg? When will I get out?"

"Well, the doctors already took out the bullet and cleaned out the wound so you wouldn't get an infection. And, I think you will be able to leave in no more than two weeks." She looked at me. "The bullet was really deep so you would have to stay here a little longer than some other people that get shot in their leg."

I looked at the locket that she was wearing.

I think she saw me looking at it because she tightly squeezed it with her hand. "You should be greatful" she started. "That the bullet went into your leg."

"Why?" I asked. "It hurt like hell."

"Because, if the bullet would've went in your stomach, it could have messed up your insides. And if you got shot in the head or in the heart, well... you know what would've happened to you."

"Yeah. I guess you're right," I responded.

She went over a few other things with me while she was bringing food in the room for me. She set a red tray on my lap. On the tray was a plate that had a veggie wrap and a glass of water.

I had to at least be greatful that I got food but the portions that they gave me were too small. It's not like I have any stomach problems, I got shot in the leg. I should be able to eat a normal portion of food.

When the nurse was done straighting up some nicknacks in the room, she told me what would happen so my leg would get better quicker.

"You should stay in bed for another week and then doctor Reed will come in and help you get walking again," she told me.

My eyes widened. Another week. That's gonna feel like eternity considering it felt like days that I was in this room already, even though it wasn't even a full day yet.

I looked at her. "Why can't I just start walking by myself?" I asked. I've walked before. I think I can walk again.

"Because you need someone there to help you keep your balance a few times. It's not as easy as you think. Especially when you have an injury on your leg."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

I ate my lunch in silence, scanning my eyes around the room for something to do to keep me occupied for a while. My eyes met a T.V.

 _What the heck Jess, how did you not see a T.V. there before? You're so stupid._ I told myself.

I scanned around the room again for the remote, and surly enough, when I looked on the side table next to me, there it was.

I reached for the remote and when I got ahold of it I studied the buttons. I pointed it and pressed the red button at the T.V. and it came on.

I flipped through all of the channels until I found MTV. Even though MTV was pretty new, I have always liked to watch MTV because I just love music videos and seeing which new ones came out. I love jamming out to the songs and singing along.

One of my favorite songs that I loved to see and rock out to was _You Better Run_ by Pat Benatar. Now, I know the song came out a couple years ago but I still love it. I always admired Pat Benatar and her music ever since her first record came out in '79. I found that her music had always made me happy.

None of her music videos showed that day but a lot of other good musicians videos were on. I sang along to almost all of them so loudly that I bet the people outside of the room thought I was crazy. But I'm just a girl who loves her music.

That night I found it hard to sleep because first, I had to sleep on my back and I normally sleep on my side or on my stomach, but because of my stupid leg injury, I had to sleep on my back. It was also very uncomfortable. Not to mention the ECG was beeping right in my ear the whole night. _How long am I gonna have to stay here for?_ I wondered.

The first thing that I did when the nurse came into my room in the morning to give me my breakfast was to ask her if the doctors or someone could turn down the volume on the machine. It wasn't like I was on life support or something. No one needed to hear my heart rate. I had a leg injury not a heart attack for crying out loud.

Later on that day, around 10:30, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said. I thought that it could've been the nurse but actually it was the total opposite. It was one of the boys I met the day before.

It was Richie. He was wearing a suit and tie and had flowers in his hands.

"Hi." He said nervously but smiling.

"Hi," I responded. By the way that he looked at me and the way he dressed, I got the feeling that something was up. I had a feeling that he liked me, even though we just met.

"Umm..." He started. He looked down at the flowers in his hands. "These are for you." He said, coming over to the bed where I was and handing me the flowers.

"You know." I giggled. "You don't have to wear a suit and bring a girl flowers to impress her." I said sniffing the flowers.

"Oh," he said awkwardly, probably now just knowing what he did. He looked at the floor.

I could tell that he was shy and a little nervous.

I smiled at him. "It was a good effort though. It takes some real courage for a boy to do this. Thank you." I said biting my lower lip.

He laughed. "Yeah. I guess it was kind of stupid though."

I looked at his suit and tie again. "I find it kinda cute."

He looked up at me and showed a gentle smile. His eyes lit up with joy. "You do?" He said happily.

"Yeah."

For the next few hours we played a few rounds of connect four.

After we played that, Richie looked at his book bag. "Hey... I have a couple hours to spare. I brought my Atari if you wanted to play. I could set it up to the T.V."

"Yeah, sure. That would be fun." I responded. I was wondering why someone would carry an Atari around with them.

Richie took the Atari and the joysticks out of his bag and set them at the foot of the bed.

We were lucky that the T.V. was on a cart so we could just roll it over to the bed.

After Richie rolled the T.V. next to the bed, he grabbed the different wires and chords and put it into the back of the television.

When he was done setting the Atari up, he came back over and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"What kind of games do you like?" He asked me.

I thought for a moment. "I really like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. I also like Centipede." I responded back to him, resting the joy stick on my lap.

He looked up at me. "I like all of those games too. They're my favorites."

I was silent for a second. "Do you know who Matthew Labyorteaux is?" I asked.

He smiled. "Of course I know who Matthew Labyorteaux is? He's like the best actor ever."

"I know right. Well he entered a Pac-Man tournament a year or two ago and got the high score of one million, two hundred thousand."

"Yeah, I remember hearing about that in a Blip magazine once."

I sighed. "Too bad that I suck at that game. But it's so addicting. I would never be able to get near a score like that."

"Me neither, " he agreed.

After we were done for the day playing the Atari for about another hour, I'm not going to lie but I lost most of the games. But I kept beating his butt in Space Invaders, so I was happy about that.

There was another knock at the door. This time, it _was_ the nurse. She was carrying a tray. I guess it was lunch time.

"Hi Jessica." She walked over to me and set the tray on the table. "This is your lunch for the day."

"Thank you," I said politely, taking my eyes off of the T.V.

The nurse looked at Richie and then back at me. "And who's this?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh, this is Richie. I met him yesterday."

He smiled.

"Nice to meet you Richie." The nurse said. She looked at the clock. "Well I have to go now. Remember what I said earlier about your leg."

"I know." I responded. "Don't put much pressure on it."

"Yeah." She said as she opened the door. "I'll see you later."

"Okay."

When she left, I got hungry so I leaned to my side and reached for the tray.

"Oh, let me get that for you." Richie said politely. He slowly picked up the tray and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I responded.

He responded with a kind, gentle smile.

I picked up the plastic fork that came with my food and put it in the salad. I took a bite and finished the bite before I swallowed.

Richie looked up at me. "So tell me a little bit about yourself.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know... anything." He paused. "Here, I'll go first."

I nodded.

"Let's see." he started. "My name is Richie Adler. I'm 15. I've lived in Los Angeles for my whole life. I live with my mom, sister, and dog. I go to North Centennial high school.

I thought for a second. "Well, my name is Jessica Johnson. I am also 15. I have lived here in Los Angeles for about two and a half months now. I'm actually going to the same high school you go to in the fall. And, I like to sing and dance."

"Nice." He said, engaged. "Who do you live with?"

My smile faded when I remembered about loosing my mom.

"I, um... my mom passed away a few weeks ago. And my dad died when I was really young." I said sadly.

He showed a sign of concern. "Oh... i'm so sorry. I had no idea."

My eyes started to water as I tried not to cry. "It's fine, honestly." I said as a tear slid down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly before he could notice.

His face turned into a frown as a few more teardrops fell from my eyes. he opened his arms and wrapped them around me.

I sobbed but I felt safe in his arms while he made me feel better. His arms were gentle on me and even though I didn't feel that sad anymore, I didn't want him to let go.

"It's okay." He whispered in my ear. His voice was calm and sincere. "It's all going to be alright."


	4. Chapter 4

I was a little upset when Richie left but he came back everyday around the same time and stayed longer and longer each day.

We watched movies, sang along to the songs on MTV, played the Atari, and just talked about life. We became really close and we got to know each other on a one to one basis.

One day, he even brought me food that his mom made and it was amazing. Way better than the food that the hospital gave me.

It was the day that doctor Reed came in to help me walk. After a few times of trying to walk, my leg felt better. When she helped me up the first time, I tripped and fell. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to walk again, but I guess that the nurse was right. It _did_ have to practice walking, as weird as that sounds.

My leg did hurt way more when I first started to walk which led me to fall. I couldn't walk straight and was unbalanced when no one was holding my all and keeping me from falling.

After a few times of trying to walk straight, doctor Reed told me that it was enough for the day.

When I climbed back into the bed, my body felt relaxed and my leg slowly stoped hurting.

Later on that day Richie came and I felt releived and happy once again. Today he brought food with him and handed me a burger and fries. Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good burger.

"Thanks." I said.

"Sure thing." He said, replong with a smile.

"You know, I'm really getting sick of the food that they give me here."

"So what youre trying to say is that I should never get an injury and come to this hospital so I want have to eat the food here?" He said with a serious face.

"Yeah." I said taking a bite into the burger. "That's exactly what I'm trying to say." I said, swallowing.

We both laughed.

"So..." He said. "Anything new?"

"Well the doctor tried to help me walk again but it didn't work out that good."

"I seem. So, do you know when you're gonna get out of here?" He asked.

"Hopefully no more than a week."

"That's still a while."

"Yeah, well the doctor is so busy that she barely has any time to help me walk."

Richie looked down at my leg and then back to my face. "Well, I could try and help you walk right now if you'd like?"

I smiled. "Sure, I don't even know the next time she's gonna help me anyways."

"Great," He said. He got up from the chair and helped me to my feet. He held my hand and his other hand on my upper back.

My lips curled into a smile. No one has held my hand before, let alone a boy.

He slowly put one foot in front of him as he told me to do the same.

I moved my injured leg first so the pressure was on my non-hurting leg.

"Good." He said, looking down at my feet.

Now it was time for me to move my normal leg so the pressure would be on my injured leg. This was normally the time that I would fall. I had a feeling that I was squeezing his hand a little too hard because I wasn't good at keeping my balance in this situation. But when I looked up at him, his face showed no concern.

I hurried with that step and then I repeated the steps a few more times. Then when I moved my non injured leg again, I could feel a pain jolt up my leg and I fell, bringing Richie down with me.

Out of nowhere, we both bursted into laughter, even though my leg hurts pretty badly from falling on it and putting pressure on it.

We both got up off the ground and I climbed back on to the hospital bed. He sat back down into the chair.

It hirted to walk but I felt warm and safe near Richie.

We both sat in awkward silence.

He looked at me and I had a bright smile on my face when he smiled at me.

I could tell that we both felt nervous but anxious.

I saw him close his eyes and lean in toward me. I closed my eyes too. I knew what was happening and I didn't refuse it.

When our lips touched, I froze a bit, not really knowing what to do. I had never kissed anyone before so I didn't know what to expect. I kind of liked it and I thought it felt pretty good.

It lasted only a second and then he pulled back.

"Sorry," he said quickly shaking his head. "I wasn't thinking."

I blushed and looked up at him. "Don't be sorry." I responded. "I kind of liked it." I said shyly.

"Me too." He agreed.

And with that, we both leaned in again. When our lips met again it was less hesitant and more emotional.

After a second, he put his hand on my back and I wrapped my arms his neck.

I felt as if the room was closing in on us.


	5. Chapter 5

That night, my leg didn't seem to bother me as much and I was kept awake, replaying the though of me and Richie together. I really did enjoy being around him and I smiled just at the thought of him.

The next day when he came to see me, I saw that he had an older lady, probably in her late thirties or early forties and a little girl, probably around eight with him.

"Hi Jessica," Richie said as normal.

I looked at the lady and the little girl.

"Umm... this is my mom," he said, pointing to the lady.

She slightly waved. "Hi, my name is Irene."

"And this is my little sister," he said, pointing to the little girl.

"Hi," the girl said in her high pitched, excited voice. "My name is Cheryl. Richie has told us a lot about you," she said nodding her head and smiling big.

I giggled as Richie nudged her on the shoulder.

"Hey," she replied. "Stop it!"

"Richie," I said with a smile. "I think she's cute."

"She's not cute, she's a devil," he said under his breath.

They all walked towards me and brought over chairs to sit on.

"How are you?" Irene said with a smile.

"I'm good," I responded.

Cheryl looked up at me with a smile. "You know, Richie's never had a girlfriend before."

Richie gave her a death stare.

My lips curled into a smile. I found it cute when younger siblings would make fun of their older siblings.

Richie smiled at me. "So, how is your leg today?" He asked.

"It's actually feeling a lot better. The doctor came in earlier and helped with my walking."

"How did it go?" Irene asked.

"It went pretty well I think," I responded. "I'm getting the hang of walking again without falling. It's just the pressure on my leg that's making me loose my balance."

"So, it's getting better?"

"Yeah. But I wish it would get better quicker. This bed is really killing me. I haven't been outside in a while and I'm kinda starting to miss it."

I could tell that Irene was thinking about something.

"Well if you think you can walk better tomorrow, we could all go out for breakfast," she suggested.

"Oh," Cheryl budged in. "Can we go to that new café? I like that place."

"Sure. Would you be okay with that Jessica?"

"Yeah," I said, happy that I wouldn't have to stay in the hospital for the whole day tomorrow and it would get me a chance to know more about Ms. Adler and Cheryl.

They both seemed really nice but I felt like Richie didn't really like his sister very much. When I was in the children's home, I saw a lot of siblings that didn't get along. I never had a siblings so I never had the feeling to see what it was like.

Richie stayed with me for a few more hours and it was great.

"Do you sing in front of people often?" He asked.

I realized that I humming out loud. I kind of felt embarrassed. "Umm... not that often but sometimes."

"What kind of music do you sing?"

"I like to sing most genres but I really like pop."

"That's cool," he thought for a second. "Do you want to sing right now? I would love to hear it, if you don't mind."

"Umm... sure," I said. I kind of got nervous when I song around people but it was fun. "I just have to worn you though, I'm not that good."

He smiled. "Just go for it."

"Okay. Do you know the song Don't let it show by Pat Benatar?" I asked.

"I think I've heard part of it before."

"Okay." I took in a deep breath. Here goes nothing. I said to myself. I started to sing.

If it's getting harder to face every day  
Don't let it show, don't let it show  
Though it's getting harder to take what they say  
Just let it go, just let it go

I sang the rest of the song and surprisingly, I hit the high notes pretty well and I was pretty proud of myself.

Richie looked at me with amazement in his eyes. "That was beautiful."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It was amazing."

"Thank you," I said smiling.


	6. Chapter 6

When my alarm went off the next morning, I woke with a smile on my face knowing that I would finally be able to get out of this darn hospital for a while. I was excited to go out to breakfast with Richie and his mom and sister.

I got changed into the clothes I wore, the day of the accident but don't worry, they got washed so they were clean.

When I got a knock on the door, it was Richie.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," I responded, holding out my hand.

We laced our fingers together and walked out of the room.

We passed the front desk. "Oh," I said. "I have to go check out."

Richie gave me a big smile. "I already did that before I got you."

I returned a smile. "Thanks."

We walked outside and I took a deep breath in, enjoying the nature. I saw the car. Irene was driving and Cheryl was in the passenger seat. I thought that eight was a little young to ride in the front but I was fine with that.

Richie opened the door to the back seat and gestured me to get in.

I jumped into the car. "Thanks," I said. I looked out the window and saw the outside of the hospital. It was an off-white color and wasn't really kept up as neat as some of the other buildings in the area.

Richie made his way to the opposite side of the car and got in.

"You ready," Irene asked me.

"Yep. Thanks again for inviting me to tag along."

"It was our pleasure," she stated.

When we made it to the café, I got out of the car and Richie came over and we interlocked hands. A few times during the walk into the café, my leg hurt, but it would always go away a few seconds later.

When we got in, a waiter gave us our seats and table. It was a booth so I slid in first and was next to a window and under an air vent, which made me shiver a little until got used to the cool air.

Richie slid in next to me.

"Hey," Cheryl complained. "I wanted to sit next to Jessica." She gave him a grin and Richie replied with a smirk.

Irene looked at Cheryl. "Maybe next time honey. Come sit next to your mom."

She said next time. That means I'm going to be spending more time with them. That'll be nice.

When we all decided what to order, I got a BLT. I know that BLT's are normally a lunch thing but I always ate it for breakfast if restaurants had it.

"So, Jessica," Irene started. "Richie said that you have stayed in Calabasas for a little while now. How do you like it here?"

"It's really beautiful," I said. "I enjoy how it is nice about all year round. I used to live over in New York and it gets super cold in the winter so I like having a break from that.

"Was it hard leaving all of your friends behind in New York?" Richie asked.

I frowned and shrugged. "Well, I never really had any friends. I was homeschooled until I came here."

"You can be my friend," Cheryl said jumping in.

My lips curled into a smile. "Aww... thanks. I would love to be your friend. Thanks, Cheryl."

She gave me a big smile.

The whole feeling that I had while eating with them made me feel welcomed and happy. I felt like I had a whole family for once.

When we were all finished, Irene paid for the food and left a tip at the table.

On our way out I heard Cheryl. "Mom, mom," she said tugging on Irene's shirt.

"Yes, honey?" she replied.

"I want a muffin," she pleaded.

"Honey, there's a line. It's going to take a while."

"It's okay mom," Richie said. "You can get the muffin for Cheryl and me and Jessica can wait out in the car for you."

"Yeah," I responded. "Besides, I think she really wants that muffin."

Cheryl looked at her mom with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "Do you two want anything?"

"I'm good," I responded. "But thanks for the offer."

Richie agreed.

Irene then dug into her purse and gave the car keys to Richie.

We both walked outside and found the car.

He pressed the unlock button on the keys and the car unlocked. We both climbed in and Richie put the keys in the front.

We sat in silence for a bit.

"Thanks for inviting me again. It was really nice," I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. I enjoyed it too. I'm glad you could come," he said giving me a smile.

"Well, I am always free and I didn't have anything else to do today."

We sat there in silence for another while longer and then our eyes met.

We kind of already knew what was going to happen.

I gave him a smile and he gave me a smile back, taking his glasses off slowly.

Something just clicked and the next thing I knew was our heads moving slowly towards each other. My heart started to pound faster as the butterflies in my stomach came. Our lips met in between and the butterflies in my stomach slowly faded away and my heart started to slow down. I felt passion and love again.

We sat still in the same position for a few moments and then our kiss deepened at the same time. I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist.

We were both in the moment and loved it until we were interrupted by the car doors opening.

We quickly got back into our seats and Richie put back on his glasses.

We both tried to hide the smirks on our faces.

The ride back to the hospital was quiet with a few things said here and there.

When we got back to the hospital, I looked at Irene before exiting the car. "Thank you again for taking me out to eat with you all. I really appreciated it."

She smiled. "It was no problem. I hope that we can do this again sometime."

I smiled. "I would like that." I got out of the car and waved at Cheryl. "Bye."

"Bye!" She said energetically.

Richie walked me back into the hospital and checked me back in. We then went to my room and he gave me a small kiss on the cheek. "Bye," he said quietly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I said, gazing into his dreamy, dark brown eyes.

When he left, I went and sat back down on the bed and fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I was woken up by a ringing noise. It took me a moment to realize that it was the telephone. I stretched out my muscles and reached for the phone. When my hand grabbed ahold of it, I brought it up to my ear. "Hello," I said yawning.

"Hi Jessica," I heard. It was Irene.

"Hi, Miss. Adler," I said. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong," she replied. "Umm... Richie told me the other day that you just recently lost your mother and you're staying at a children's home. Is that true?"

"Yeah," I said. _Maybe she just wants to know more about me._ I lifted myself up against the backboard of the bed.

"Well, I was just thinking..." there was silence on the end of the phone. "Maybe if, now you don't have to yes but if you would like to stay at our home for a bit, like fostering, you can."

My eyes lit up. "Really?" I spoke into the receiver.

"Yeah. But only if you're up for it, and then we will see how it goes. I have a spare bedroom upstairs and you could have it if you'd like."

"Yes, I would love that. Thank you so much." I was so happy that she wanted to take me in. Her family seemed so nice.

"Yay!" I heard voices on the other end cheer. It was Richie and Cheryl. They must have been listening to the conversation.

I giggled, not expecting anyone else to talk.

I was glad because living in the children's home was hard, especially since I didn't have any friends or family there made it lonely for me.

"Umm... I would need to know the address so I can contact them," Irene said.

"Yeah, sure." I thought for a second trying to remember what the address was. "It's 1359 New Garth Road."

When we both hung up the phone, I was so happy, I started dancing. I know that's a weird thing to do but we all have our weird sides.

When my leg started to hurt, I sat back down on the bed.

I was all awake now so I turned on the T.V. and put on MTV and jammed out to the songs for a few hours because I had nothing better to do.

The rest of the day alone like normal. I got my food, watched television and slept.

The next day, doctor Reed said that I would be able to leave in two days. I was excited and I wouldn't be going back to the children's home. I kept on thanking God that Miss. Adler was willing to bring me in and have such a kind heart. She already had it hard, raising two kids and be a single mother, that I didn't know how difficult it would be for her to look after another child.

That day when Richie came, he told me how happy he was. He also told me that my new bedroom is really nice. It already had furniture in it and he would prefer that room but its a little girly for him and it wouldn't fit all of his computer equipment in it. It was his mother's room when she was a teenager.

"Rabies is going to love you," Richie said to me. "He loves people."

My face went blank. "Rabies. Who is Rabies and why is that his name?"

"It's my dog. Don't worry, he doesn't have rabies. At least... we don't think," he laughed. "I don't know why he's called that. Cheryl named him."

I laughed along. "Now I just feel bad for him."

"Me too." He said with a sigh.

The next day, he brought me some food and we watched some movies.

My leg was healing pretty fast at this point but I still didn't want to see the mark that the bullet made.

The time at the hospital was going by slowly and I was eager to get out.

Richie told me that his mom signed all of the paperwork to let me live with them and I was all set. He also told me that the people at the children's home brought all my stuff to the house already.

That night, it was hard to go to sleep, knowing that I was going to be out of the hospital the next day and I won't have to stay in a bed anymore. I kind of got used to it in a way, but I wouldn't miss it one bit.

The next morning I got into clothes and checked out of the hospital.

I waited outside in the warm air and took in the scent of the flowers that had grown in the garden next to the hospital.

The plan was that I was going to go out to breakfast with Miss. Adler, Richie, and Cheryl, and then we would go to their house. I'd have to say, I was a little nervous but excited at the same time to move into their house. I just hoped that I would like it there.

After breakfast, we all got back into Miss. Adler's car and went to their house. The whole car ride, I was thinking about what it would be like at the Adler's house. I wondered if I'd like it or not.

When we got to the house, I saw that it was quite big for only three people. _No wonder they had an extra bedroom,_ I thought.

When we walked into the house, we were all greeted by Rabies.

"Hi, Rabies," I said, almost laughing at how ridiculous that name was.

He jumped up on my leg and I almost lost my balance.

Cheryl laughed. "He really likes you," she said. She looked up at Irene. "Mom, can I give Rabies a treat?"

Her head nodded in agreement. "Sure honey."

Cheryl ran into the kitchen and Rabies followed short behind her with his tail wagging with joy.

Richie showed me around the house and showed me where my room was. When I looked into the room, I realized that it was much bigger than the room I had when I lived with my mom. I would defiantly have enough room to put all my stuff in.

Later that day, I settled down and started unpacking my things from a few suitcases.

The room already had a bed, dresser, and a desk in it and they were all painted an off-white shade. The bed had blue flowers drawn on the rim of it.

Cheryl came into my room a few minutes later and wanted to help me unpack my things. I told her that she could and even though she was only eight, she was a big help.

About an hour later, we all had lunch.

Miss. Adler made us all sandwiches and made fresh lemonade. I hadn't had fresh lemonade in who knows how long so I was very happy.

After we were all done eating, we put our dishes in the sink and Richie turned to his mom. "Hey, mom?"

"Yes?"

"Can I take Jessica to the park for a little bit and show her around the neighborhood?"

Irene looked at the clock above the stove and turned back to Richie. "Sure, just be back in about an hour or two because I'm going to be making some cookies in a bit and you don't want them to be cold."

Richie licked his lips. "Mmmm sounds great."

Both of us went outside and got our bikes from the garage.

I realized that when I was riding my bike, my leg hurt a little bit because I was putting a little bit more pressure on it when I was pedaling the bike. But the doctor did say that I needed to work out my leg a bit so I wondered if this counted.

Richie pointed to everything and told me what it was and he could list some of the people that lived in the houses. He also showed me where his friends, Ham, Jeremy, and Alice lived.

After that, we headed towards the park. We had to turn around since the park was in the opposite direction.

When we got there, I saw that it as next to a beautiful lake. I could just imagine the sun setting there.

The playground at the small park brought back some of my childhood memories.

I ran up the square steps and stood at the top of the slide. "I feel like I'm five again," I yelled to Richie who was propping his bike along the edge of the playground.

"You didn't have a playground where you used to live?" he asked, walking up to the foot of the slide.

"No," I responded. "But whenever I stumble across one, I love it."

There was a second of brief silence.

"Remember when we were kids and thought that life was so easy and great," I asked.

"Yeah."

"And now that we've grown up a little, life's hard. With school and family," I said sliding down the slide. "Sometimes I just wish I could travel back in time and tell my younger self that it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. I wish I could tell her what to expect." I looked over at him. "Don't you?"

Richie looked up at me. "Yeah. I guess I do wish I could do that.

We talked for a bit longer and then decided to head back to his house, which I hope I could call 'home' someday.


	8. Chapter 8

Dinner that night was amazing. It was like a feast. When I lived with my mom, we normally heated up something, had leftovers, or went out to eat. She was always so busy with her job that she barely ever had time to cook a full meal like this.

Richie said that the food portions were going to be big like this every night so I better have a big appetite.

Dinner lasted about an hour, so when it was about seven-thirty when we finished. Everybody listened to everybody's conversations and listened to what they had to say and I felt like family already.

Later that night, I was in my room, reading a book while listening to some music on the record player.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said.

Cheryl walked into my room.

"Hey, Cheryl."

"Hi," she responded, sounding like she was up to something. "Richie told me to tell you that he wants to see you. He wants to-" she put her fingers in air quotations. "-chat." She turned around and took a few steps forward. She stopped and leaned back. "He's in his... bedroom." I saw her walk back down the hall.

I got up from my bed and turned off the record player. I was getting tired so I hoped that whatever Richie needed to talk about was quick.

I made my way down the hallway and to Richie's bedroom. The sign on the door read 'CHERYL KEEP OUT'. I giggled. Yep, this was defiantly his room. I knocked on the door and entered.

Richie looked up at me. "Hey. Jessica," he said, trying to sound seductive.

I looked around the dark room and saw one small candle lit on his desk. I giggled at how lame this was. I already liked him so why was he doing this?

"What's going on?" I asked, suspicious of his actions.

"Umm... I wanted to. Umm..." He sounded nervous. He whispered silently, "kiss."

I didn't really hear him so I stepped towards him. "What? I couldn't hear you."

As I stepped closer, he leans in and we kiss. We both stood there for a second and then we got closer to each other. He put his hands on my waist and I wrap my hands around his neck.

After about thirty seconds, we broke away with a smile on both of our faces.

"That was nice," Richie said quietly.

I nodded my head in agreement. I yawned. "It's getting late," I said. "I'm gonna go to bed. Goodnight."

"Night," he said, giving me a peck on the cheek.

I left his room with a smile on my face.


	9. Chapter 9

A few days passed and I started getting use to the Adler house. I would go to the lake sometimes just to think.

I was beginning to feel like I was part of a whole family.

Richie and I had a few kisses here and there and on the second day that I was staying there, he asked me to be is girlfriend. I was flattered and stunned that anyone would want to be _my_ boyfriend. I always had lacked on self confidence so I was glad that someone liked me for me.

After dinner, I went up to my room and wrote in a little journal that my mother gave me before she passed away. She said that I should write in it at least once a week and jot down the important things and what happened that day or week.

She decided to give me the journal that she had growing up. I really enjoyed reading about some of the things that happened to her. My life seemed like nothing when I read what she wrote.

A whole bunch of exiting things happened to her and it was nothing like what I go through.

Nothing, and I mean nothing too interesting happened to me. Unless you call getting into a strangers car thinking it was your mom's car interesting. To me, it was just awkward.

Later that night, I was walking to the lake to get some fresh air. It was pretty dark out but with the full moon, I could see pretty well.

I looked down at my Swatch and it read 10:26. I know it was a little late to be going to the lake but whatever. I normally like to think somewhere where it is peaceful, when no one is around, and I thought that the lake was a perfect place to do that.

I walked up to the lake and sat down on the sand. I sat there for about thirty minutes until I heard a snap.

I just let it go, thinking it was an animal.

A few moments later, I heard another snap.

I jolted around to see Richie standing there.

I let out a sigh. "You scared me."

"Sorry," he said. He was carrying a paper bag. "Umm... I brought you some cookies in case you wanted any." He walked over to me. "You've been gone a while and I thought I could find you here."

"Thanks." I looked at the lake again. "I just needed an escape from life for a bit, that's all."

"Well I' sorry for disturbing you. I could leave if you'd like?"

I looked behind me and at him again. "No. It's fine. You can come sit." I said, gesturing for him to come sit beside me.

He walked over and sat down. He dug into the paper bag and pulled out a cookie. He handed me it and I ate it.

We both sat in a comfortable silence.

When both of our heads turned sideways and our eyes met, I smiled at him and he smiled back.

Without much hesitation, we both slowly leaned in and kissed.

When our kiss deepened-

"Eww! Stop the PDA." We both heard from behind us.

We looked back and saw Cheryl. She stood there with a gross look on her face. "You know, you can get pregnant when you kiss. Right?" she squealed.

Richie looked at her with confusion. "No, you can't Cheryl! Go away!"

"I'm gonna tell mom!" she yelled running away.

"No, you won't unless you want to get yourself killed," he shot back at her.

When she was gone, Richie turned back to me.

"Ugh. I hate her sometimes," he said. "She's always in my business. She's suppose to be in bed right now. But she just had to see what I was doing."

"It's okay. When she gets older and realizes what privacy is than she won't get in your business anymore." I said, trying to make him calm down.

"Hopefully," was all he said.

"At least we're alone now." I said.

"Yeah, but my sister just walking in like that just bugs me." He said putting his head down in his hands.

I thought for a second and then I tapped his shoulder.

He lifted his head.

"Hey, just think when she gets a boyfriend, you can _accidentally_ walk in on them and she would get pissed, but at least then she will know how you feel." I giggled and he joined in.

"Yeah," he said smiling. "That's actually not a bad idea. You're a genius."

I sat up properly. "Well thank you kind sir."

He imitated me. "You're very welcome my lady."

We laughed even more.

We both sat there, gazing into each other's eyes.

I looked away and looked up.

The moment was perfect, the full moon and the stars lit up the sky.

Richie's hand took ahold of mine. "Hey," he whispered. "Look at me."

His warm breath brushed against my cheek, indicating how close his head was to mine.

I looked back at him.

His hand stroked my cheek and he put his free hand on my waist.

We both leaned in as our faces were only a few inches away from each other.

My eyes slowly closed and just then, his lips pressed against mine.

His lips were soft and gentle on mine. They lingered in that position for a moment, and then both of our lips spread.

I found my lips spreading over his too, as if the belonged there. Like two puzzle pieces that fit together.

I melted into his arms as my heart fluttered.

We weren't two separated people anymore, we were joined together, as one.

I raised my hands and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

Our spread again as we deepened the kiss.

My heart started to beat faster and I smiled.

I could feel him smile back.

Goosebumps formed when his hands slid under my shirt and up my back.

I gently gripped my hands in his soft hair.

And right then, it felt like a spark just blew into a thousand pieces between us. The feeling of love and passion explored me and went through my body.

When we pulled away, Richie rested his forehead on mine and we just stared at each other, breathing heavily.

This was the moment. This was the time. This was the boy. I loved Richie. So much.

"Ugh," we heard from behind us. It was a low, deep voice that scared us both.

I quickly turned around to see a figure in the darkness and something in his hand.

I tapped on Richie's leg to see if he saw the same thing that I was seeing without looking at him.

He put his hand on mine, telling me that he saw the man too.

"Hey Jessica," the man said walking towards Richie and me as we backed up.

I looked at the man in fear. "W... who are y... you?

He laughed in a menacing tone. "You don't know me Jessica but I know you. In fact, a whole bunch of people in my family knows you."

"W... what d... do you w... want?" I asked, stuttering over my own words.

The man walked forward again and it was now visible that he had a syringe in his hand. "Let's just say that when my family has an eye on a target, we don't let them go. We have a specific taste for certain people."

My hands started to tremble as I knew that if I didn't do something fast, I was probably going to die. I didn't know what was in the syringe. It could be poison for all I know. I lost all sense of reality until I felt Richie take his hands off mine and pulled something out of his back pocket of his jeans.

He placed an object in my hand.

I brushed my fingers around it and I could feel that it was a pocket knife. I didn't know why he would carry a pocket knife with him but I was kind of glad he did.

I knew what I had to do with it.

I opened up the knife and pointed it at the man. "Don't get near me or I'll hurt you!" I yelled at him. My shaky hands just made me feel less confident in cutting or stabbing him if he came close to me.

"It's okay precious," he said walking closer and closer to me. "It's only gonna hurt for a minute and then you won't feel a thing."

I held out the pocket knife further. "I SAID, DONT GET NEAR ME!" I said, starting to cry.

I could feel Richie get up from the ground. He tried fighting the man but got knocked down.

I started to cry harder knowing that now, the closest person to me was the man.

"Now come on," the man said, now only a few feet away from me. "It's only going to feel like a pinch."

I backed up further with the pocket knife still in hand as the man lunged forward and dug the syringe into my arm. I yelped in pain and without thinking, I ran the blade of the pocket knife in his lower stomach. I fell down to the ground, clenching my arm. I screamed again. The pain kept running up an down my arm.

I saw the man holding his stomach with an evil grin on his face.

My vision started to get blurry as I saw Richie get up from the ground and come towards me. He kissed my forehead. "I'll be right back. It's going to be okay," he said taking the pocket knife out of my hand and ran right towards the man. He got it so the man fell down and Richie was now on top of him.

"DON'T YOU EVER HURT HER AGAIN YOU BASTARD!" he screamed at the man.

I saw him stab the man. I shut my eyes and clenched my arm harder.

I saw him stab the man again. "I HOPE YOU DIE, GO TO HEAVEN, GET REJECTED BY GOD HIMSELF. THEN GO TO HELL, DIE THERE AGAIN, AND GET REJECTED BY SATAN."

I guess the man learned his lesson because the next thing I knew was that he was running away, limping, and clenching his stomach.

Richie stood there in shock for a moment realized what he had done to the man. He dropped the pocket knife.

My vision was getting more blurry by the second. "Richie," I managed to get out.

He turned around and ran towards me. He knelt down beside me.

"I... I can't move." I said, taking a gulp. "H... help m... me."

"Uh..." he said putting his hand on mine for a split second. "I... I'm gonna take you home. It's all going to be okay." He said as a tear slid down his face.

I could feel him scoop me up into his arms and start to run.

I looked up at him while he was running and he looked down at me. I could feel the rhythm of his feet hit the pavement ground.

My vision went blank and I lost all of my senses.


	10. Chapter 10

My eyes opened. It took me a second to realize where I was. I looked around. I was in my bedroom.

My turned my head to my arm. It didn't hurt anymore. It took me a moment to wake up a little when a yawn escaped my body. That's when I looked at my Swatch on my wrist and it read 9:30. Richie was sleeping in a chair with is head between his arms on my bed.

He woke up when I was trying to sit up.

"Good morning," I said.

"Good morning," he said yawning.

"What happened last night? The last thing I remember was at the lake." I said, still trying to wake up. My eyes felt weak.

Richie stood up and walked to my desk. I saw him pick up a syringe. "Well... you got drugged." He said tiredly.

"I got what?!" I said, raising my voice a bit.

"Shhh," he hushed me. "Mom and Cheryl might hear you."

I settled down my voice. "Why would anyone want to drug me?"

"I don't know." He said, putting the syringe back on my desk. "Maybe he was planning for you to be alone so he could kidnap you without any interference."

My face went into a disgusted look. "Ugh. That's just wrong."

"Yeah," he agreed.

We talked about that topic for another five minutes.

"Also, don't tell mom or Cheryl about what happened because they don't know anything." Richie told me. "I had to actually carry you into the house without them noticing last night because if they saw you drugged and not moving, they would probably lose it and my mom would never let you or me go out at night again."

"Okay," I said. I thought for a second and looked back at him. "How did the man get away?"

"Well... you cut him... and then I stabbed him." He said, putting a guilty look on his face.

My eyes grew wide. "I did what?!" I heard that he said that he hurt the man too but I didn't believe that _I_ cut someone. I had _never_ done that before.

He walked towards me and cupped my hands in his. "You had no other choice, you saved yourself. And me... I... I was just pissed at the man for hurting you."

"Did you get hurt?" I asked curiously.

"Not really."

"What do you mean 'not really'?"

"Well, he pushed me down a couple times, but nothing major." He responded.

I was somewhat relieved to hear the words that he didn't really get hurt as we leaned in for a kiss.

"Wake up you sleepyheads!" We heard Cheryl say while banging on my bedroom door.

"We already are." Richie snapped at her.

I giggle and my stomach growled. "I'm hungry. I'm gonna do down and make myself some toast."

He stood there for a second.

"You coming?" I asked.

He broke out of his gaze. "Yeah. I'll be right down."

Before I left my room, I saw him look at the syringe once more and the start to make my bed for me.

 _What a nice boy._

Later that day, I decided to take off the bandage that was on my leg. I didn't really know what to think. I wanted to get it off, but I didn't want to see the scar that the bullet left. I wasn't ready to see the damage.

I sat on the couch and brought a pair of scissors with me.

I bent down and started to cut the bandage. I was shaking when I got down to the bottom, I started unravelling the yellow bandage.

When I pulled it off my leg, I realized that I got myself all worked up for nothing. I mean yes, there was still a scar, but it wasn't as big as I thought it would've been.

The scar was about two and a half inches long but it was still pretty visible, especially if I wore shorts. I ran my finger over it.

"Hey." I heard Richie say from behind me. He walked around the couch and sat next to me.

"Hey." I responded.

He looked down at my leg. "Is that it?"

"Yeah."

With little hesitation he put his index finger on my leg and traced the scar.

Shivers ran up my body even though his fingers were warm. There was a smirk on my face for a few seconds.

"You know it's not that bad." He said looking up at me.

"Yeah, I guess." I said agreeing with his words. "But it's still there. You can't get rid of a scar, at least not one like this."

He grabbed ahold of my hands and cupped them in his.

He kissed me quickly on the lips and then pulled back.

He looked at me in the eyes and with a kind voice he said, "Just think of it as a battle you won."


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, I turned on the television and I froze when I saw where the news broadcaster was and what she was talking about.

"Richie!" I yelled. "You should probably come down here."

He ran down the stairs and sat next to me on the couch.

"What's going on?" He asked concerned.

"Look." I said pointing to the square television.

"This morning a group of kids were walking down by the lake here." The broadcaster started, pointing t the lake and then readjusting herself beck to the center of the camera. "And they stumbled across a black pattered pocket knife." The camera showed a quick view of the pocket knife. "The knife had dried up blood on t and when the kids moved more down the lake, they saw a small trail of blood leading to the end of the park. Right now, investigators are going to work on the details but right now, all that we know is that there is a name engraved on the knife, the name is Richie. If any of you watching this have any further details, please contact us at 431-8459. Thank you. Back to you Carla."

"So one of todays top-"

I turned off the television.

"Shit." Richie exclaimed. "They just _had_ to say my name. They didn't have to do that." He said raising his voice. "There is no other person in this town named Richie for all I know and now people are going to know that I did something."

"You don't know that." I said calmly. ""People may not point their fingers at you because think about it... what kind of person your age carries a pocket knife with them?"

"Me." He said sternly looking into my eyes. " _I_ carry a pocket knife with me to places.

"Yeah but-"

There was a knock on the door.

I got up and walked to the door as Richie followed me.

I opened the door and saw Ham, Jeremy, and Alice standing there.

"Hi, we all saw the news." Ham said while they all walked into the house.

Richie sighed and ran his hand through his hair nervously. "You did? How do you know it was me who did something?"

Alice looked dead in Richie's eyes. "Because who else just carries a pocket knife with them?"

"And it had your name on it." Jeremy added in.

Richie looked embarrassed. "You guys are all acting like it is weird to have a pocket knife wherever you go."

"Because it kinda is." I said looking at him.

"Hey... it's for self defense okay. It came in handy the other night."

"But it also got you in trouble the other night." Alice budged in.

"Yeah... what exactly happened the other night?" Jeremy said, walking over to the couch and letting himself sit down.

Everyone joined him while I shut the door. I walked back over to Richie and sat on one of the arms of the chair next to him.

It took Richie a moment to speak and I wondered if I should be the one to tell the story but then I heard his voice come in. "Well," he started. "Me and Jessica were at the lake and-"

"Oooooo." Jeremy said giggling. "You two were at the lake together."

"Shut up!" Richie snapped at him embarrassed. "Anyways... a man came up to Jessica and was telling her that he was going to drug her. I gave her my pocket knife to cut the man if he came too close to her. I got up to fight the man but he was too strong and knocked me down so I hurt my leg." He looked around the room. ""Well, the man got too close to Jessica and when he stabbed the syringe in her arm, she cut his lower stomach. When I saw what he did to her, I got back up from the ground and tackled the man. I started stabbing him." He sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking but the man ended up running away."

Ham smiled. "I'm kinda proud of you Richie. I didn't know you had it in you to fight a person like that."

Alice looked at him confused. "Why would you be proud of him if he could go to jail for this. You're crazy."

I looked at Richie and then looked back. "Well, what else was he suppose to do?"

"I don't know." Alice said sighing.

There was a moment of complete silence while people were thinking about what to say.

"Do you know what kind of drug he drugged you with Jessica?" Ham asked me.

"I'm not sure but I think Richie is trying to figure it out."

"Yeah." Richie agreed. "I have the syringe upstairs."

"Wait," Jeremy exclaimed. "You have a syringe upstairs?! Does your mom know?"

"No." Richie answered. "I don't want her to know because she would get worried."

"Good morning." Cheryl said, walking down the stairs. When she saw everyone, she said hello to them.

"Hay Cheryl." They all replied.

When Cheryl went into the kitchen to get some breakfast, Jeremy said, "I really think you should tell your mom, she might be able to help."

"Tell mom what?" Cheryl said from the kitchen, overhearing our conversation.

I saw Richie roll his eyes. "Nothing Cheryl." He yelled back to her, annoyed.

"If it was nothing than why are you talking about it?" Cheryl shot back at him.

All of us laughed except for Richie.

Cheryl was a smart mouth but sometimes it would be funny.

"It's none of your business. Just go back upstairs and play with your dolls." Richie yelled at Cheryl.

"You can't make me." She replied in her childish voice as she stuck her tounge out at him.

Richie gets pretty pissed when Cheryl is like that to him which is almost everyday.

"That's is, I'm done." Richie said angrily. "I'm gonna kick your-"

I put one hand on his arms quickly before he could get up. "It's okay. Let her be. You can do that later.

He inhaled and exhaled while he calmed himself down. He sat back down on the chair as Cheryl went running up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

We all finished our conversation when the doorbell rang.

I got up from the chair and walked to the door.

When I opened the door, standing there were two police officers. They had a straight and serious look in their eyes and I knew it couldn't be good.

One of the officers spoke up. "Is there a Richard Adler here? We would like to ask him a few questions."


	12. Chapter 12

I stood there still for a second until I realized I should say something. "Umm... yeah, I'll go get him."

I left the door and walked back to the chair Richie was sitting in.

He must have seen the look on my face when I opened the door because he conserningly asked, "Hey... is everything alright?"

I tried not to cry when I thought about Richie getting in serious trouble for this. "Th... there's two police m... men outside. They want t... to talk to you."

His eyes widened. "Oh shit." He said sighing. He slowly got up from the chair and gave me a quick peck on the cheek before he headed towards the door.

"Umm... I think we should go now." Ham said when the room was silent.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Take the back door though."

When they left, Richie told me to go upstairs while he talked to the officers.

I replied with a soft "okay," and made my way upstairs.

I waited and waited in my room for Richie to come tell me that everything was going to be okay. But as time passed, I didn't hear anything until I heard a knock on my door.

Anciously and and nervously, I ran to my door hoping that Richie would be standing there but it wasn't him, it was Cheryl.

I sighed. "Hi Cheryl."

She looked at me wide eyed. "Do you know why Richie is down there talking to police men?"

I looked at her and sighed again. "I do but that's really only Richie's business."

"Is he in trouble?" he high pitched girls voice said.

"I don't know Cheryl I don't know." My voice faded.

"Mom's gonna be so mad if she comes home and see's Richie talking to the police."

"Yeah." I said. I knew that Miss. Adler was at the grocery store and had to talk with her accountant but she left hours ago and she could be back at anytime now.

Cheryl put her pointer finger on her chin. "But you know, I could use this to my advantage. I could ask Richie to do something for me and I won't tell mom about the police."

"Oh Cheryl, that's kind of mean." I frowned. "You know a nice sister wouldn't tell on her big brother or make him do something for you not to tell on him."

She shrugged. "Well than I guess I'm not the nice sister then." She skipped away, back to her bedroom.

I sighed and sat back down on my bed.

It felt like hours before Richie was done talking to the police.

"Hey," I hear him say as he knocked on my door. He let himself in.

"Hey." I sat up on my bed. "How did the talk with the police go?" I asked nervously. I didn't really want to know what happened in fear that he got in trouble with the law.

"I think it went okay." He said with his head down.

I moved closer to him. "Richie?"

He lifted up his head slowly and looked at me with sad eyes.

I asked in a whisper, "Are you going to jail?"

"I don't know," he sighed. He took my hands in his when he saw me look down and sigh. "I'm not going to jail, I promise."

I knew he was just trying to comfort and reassure me but I still prayed to God that he wouldn't go to jail because I wouldn't know what to do without him.

"Is there any bad news?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Crap," I mumbled under my breath. "What is it?"

He looked up at me. "I have to go to court. But it's only a trial. They just need to ask me some questions."

"What's your mom going to think about this?"

"I'm probably going to get grounded for a while and she's probably going to think I'm going crazy for stabbing a man." He frowned. "She's going to have to be in the court room too"

"Do _I_ have to go?"

"I'm afraid so. The police officers said that anyone who witnessed the crime has to go and the parents or gardian of those people have to go to."

"I'm so sorry Richie. This is all my fault."

"No it's not," he snapped at me. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have stabbed him."

"But you used it for self defense."

"Yeah, but I... I also stabbed him from ager which I shouldn't have done." He said. A second later he gasped while looking behind me.

I gasped too when I saw that Cheryl was standing there listening to our conversation.

Her jaw was dropped. "You stabbed someone?!"

Richie didn't say a word.

I looked at Richie and then back at Cheryl. "Oh Cheryl, you weren't suppose to hear any of that."

I saw Miss. Adler walk across the hall and stop at the foot of my bedroom. When she saw Cheryl, she asked, "What's going on?"

Richie put his head in his hands as Cheryl said, "Richie stabbed someone and the police came here to talk to him."

Miss. Adler's eyes grew wide as she ordered him to go back downstairs to have a talk with her.

I could see that Richie's face was red and tears wee falling from his eyes as he wiped them away.

I felt really bad for him and I didn't even want to know how bad he felt about or how upset he was.


	13. Chapter 13

As the days went by, I kept getting nervous about going to court because I didn't want to see Richie get fined or go to jail for stabbing that man. But I had to keep telling myself that we were only going to get questioned and hopefully that would be all.

When the day finally came to go to court, Richie was required to bring any evidence that could be used as part of the case. So he brought brought the syringe with him.

When we all walked into the court room, we sat down at one of the two tables closes to the judge.

The Adler's lawyer didn't have to join us since this was only a questioning.

When the questioning started, the judge asked Richie and I too stand up and she asked us a few questions.

"Please state your full name and age." The judge asked with a stern face.

"My name is Richard Charles Adler. I'm fifteen years old." Richie stated.

I followed after. "And my name is Jessica Rae Johnson. And I am also fifteen years old."

I saw the judge jot down some notes and looked back at us. "Where and when did this take place."

I thought for a moment. "Last Tuesday and it was at a lake by our house."

"Is there a name of the lake?"

"No, not that I know of." I replied.

"What were you doing before the man arrived?"

"We were... just hanging out by the lake." Richie chimed in.

I'm glad he just said 'hanging out' because it would just be the most awkward thing if he said, 'we were making out' if you know what I mean.

"Is that it Jessica?" I heard the judge say.

"Yes." I quickly answered.

"You can sit down now Jessica while I ask Richard a couple of questions."

I sat back down and looked up at Richie who was repositioning his glasses.

He gave me a weary look and looked back at the judge.

"Did you know the man you stabbed Richard?"

"No."

"Why did you stab the man?"

"It was for self defense and I didn't know what to do when he drugged Jessica." He gulped.

The judge finished writing down the notes in her small note pad and asked Richie to take a seat. She looked over at Miss. Adler and Cheryl.

"Did any of you see or hear anything or were at the lake when this happened?"

I saw Cheryl stand up and yell, "I did."

"Oh crap." I heard Richie say under his breath.

I remembered that night again and already predicted what she was going to say. I reclined myself in the chair and crossed my arms together.

"Okay. State your full name and age." The judge said.

"My name is Cheryl Marie Adler and I am eight years old." Cheryl said with a big smile on her face.

The judge wrote her name and age down in her notepad. 'And what did you witness Cheryl?"

"Well... I went to the lake that night and I saw Richie and Jessica kissing, and it was gross. That's what I saw that night so they weren't just-," she put her fingers in a quote on quote motion, "-hanging out."

I turned back around and saw the judge giggle for a second. I looked at Richie and had a straight, annoyed look on my face. "I know what you mean now about her being an annoying little sister."

He just rolled his eyes and shrugged. I could tell he was embarrassed.

"Umm... okay Cheryl, thank you, but that's not really the kind of stuff we need to hear for this case." The judge smiled.

"Okay," Cheryl said joyfully and shrugged. She sat back down in her chair and gave Richie a smirk.

Richie stuck his tongue out at her in annoyance.

When the court session was over, we all went out for lunch and went back home.

That night Miss. Adler had to go to a book club meeting that started at nine. So she put Cheryl to bed and reminded Richie that he was grounded so he couldn't go anywhere if his friends called.

Richie and I had planned to watch a movie or so, so I decided to make some popcorn. When I found the bag, I popped it into the microwave and set the timer to three minutes.

The phone rang and Richie walked over to it and picked it up off the wall.

"Hello?" He said into the receiver. "Yeah... I'm actually grounded so I can't go... uh-huh... umm, I'll ask her." He turned to me. "Ham, Jeremy, and Alice wanted to know if you wanted to go see a movie with them tonight at the theatre?"

"No, I'm good. I wanted to stay here with you and watch a movie. But tell them I said thank you for inviting me." I replied.

His lips curled into a smile. "Okay." He put the phone back up to his ear and took his hand away from the receiver. "She said that's okay but she said thanks for inviting her... yeah... okay, you too... bye." He put the phone back on the wall and it hung up.

By that time, the popcorn was ready so I took it out of the microwave and smelled the aroma of the buttered popcorn. I looked for a bowl in the cupboard.

Richie walked over to me and placed a kiss on my cheek. "You're the best."

"Thanks, I try," I said being a little sarcastic.

He walked over to the couch and sat down as I finished pouring the popcorn into a bowl. I turned off the kitchen light and walked into the living room which also had the lights off.

"So, what did you want to watch?" Richie asked me.

I mean, there wasn't really a lot to choose from but like three movies since it was the middle of the week and there was only ten channels.

He glanced at me while making his way to the television. "I was thinking, _Look Back To Yesturday,_ if you haven't already seen it."

I smiled. "I saw it last year when it came out but it was really good. I don't mind watching it again. Just be prepared to cry if you have an emotional attachment to Matthew's character, Albert." I said.

"Don't spoil it Jessica." He said laughing a little.

I sighed. "Fine."

Richie turned the know on the television to the correct channel and luckily, it was still on the opening credits. I already knew I was going to cry but I held it in until it was necessary.

The popcorn went by pretty quickly, before even forty minutes of the movie passed. I pulled the blanket up towards my arms because it was getting a little chilly.

I snuggled close to Richie and when the scene where Michele and Albert are on the porch telling each other how they feel and they kissed I could Richie pressed his lips on the top of my head. I felt warm again for a second.

The rest of the movie was good and when it got to the end, where Albert was climbing the mountain I felt my eyes begin to water.

Richie looked down at me and wiped away a tear that was falling down my face with his thumb. "It's okay." He said gently.

I smiled. A few minutes later, I found myself starting to get sleepy. My eyes felt heavy and I rested my head on Richie's shoulder and closed my eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

My eyes fluttered open and I found myself laying on the couch. I smelled the fresh coffees aroma lurk in the air. I shifted my body and saw Richie next to me. I propped myself up and looked at him.

"Good morning," He said.

"Good morning," I responded back. I looked over at the table and saw Miss. Adler sipping coffee and eating some food. She was reading the L.A. Gazette. I looked back at Richie. "You could've gotten up and got some food."

He smiled. "Yeah, but I didn't want to wake you by moving."

That's when I realized my legs were practically on top of him. I shrugged. "Sorry."

"No, you're fine. But now I _can_ get some food," he laughed.

"Me too." I said, agreeing that I was hungry too. When I arose from the couch, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. "Ugh." I said, probably a bit too loud.

"What's wrong?" Miss. Adler asked, turning to me.

I held my stomach. "Oh, just a little stomach ache, that's all."

She put down the newspaper. "Do you need some medicine?"

"Yes please." I sighed.

She walked over to the small medicine cabinet and got out a little white bottle. She came back over to me with a glass of water and a pill.

When I finished the pill down, I set the glass of water on the table. That's when Cheryl came out of nowhere and rubbed my stomach.

I realized that I was wearing a crop top from the day before so my stomach was exposed and shivers ran up my body when she unexpectedly touched me there.

"So," she started with a smile gleaming on her face. "When's the baby due?"

My face went into shock and I looked up at Miss. Adler who had her jaw dropped and I looked at Richie who had a confused look on his face. I squinted my eyes while looking back down at Cheryl. "Excuse me?" I exclaimed. I never had sex in my life and I wasn't planning to anytime soon.

"I asked, when is the baby due?" Cheryl repeated.

"Cheryl... I'm not pregnant... why would you think that?"

She looked at her mom but was talking about me. "Didn't we already discuss this at court? Because, you and Richie were kissing each other and that's how you get pregnant." She looked back at me. "My friend Julie told me that. And she knows _everything_."

I looked up to see Richie running his hand through his hair and sighed. "Cheryl, how many times have I told you _not_ to get in my business, no matter what?"

I looked at Miss. Adler who was giggling. "Honey," she said waking over to Cheryl. "That's not how it works."

"Than how does it?" She said cutting her mom off.

Miss. Adler sighed. "You'll learn sweetheart, you'll learn."

"Now?" She questioned further.

"No."

"Why not? Babies are cute and I want to be an auntie." She wined.

Richie looked at me. "She wasn't cute when _she_ was a baby." He whispered.

I couldn't help but laugh a little and then I stopped when I realized that that was a rude thing to say. But it was pretty clever.

"Hey. I heard that!" Cheryl wined when she heard what Richie just said about her. "Who are you to judge?"

Richie put his hand on his hip. "Who am _I_ to judge?! You weren't even alive when I was a baby so how would you know?" He snapped back at her.

"Because you act like one." Cheryl smirked.

Miss. Adler jumped in. "Hey. Can you too stop fighting?! It gets on my nerves." She sighed. "And to answer your question Cheryl, you are too young to know and we are about to eat breakfast."

That was the end of _that_ conversation and I was glad it was over.


	15. Chapter 15

About a week passed and Richie was now un-grounded. He said that his mom wanted to ground him longer but she knew that he wouldn't do soemthing like that ever again. That meant that he could actually leave the house again and hang out with his friends.

This night, Miss. Adler was on a buisness trip andwould get back by midnight and Cheyrl was at a sleepover with some of her friends.

We ocasionally went on walks around the neighborhood at night when it was peaceful and calm.

I looked up. The night was beautiful with the stars and the bugs talking back and forth with each other.

This night especially nice. Richie took me to the place byt he lake that we would go sometimes and held my hand. I had stopped worring about the man who drugged me and hoped that he was long gone away from here.

It was so romantic until I found myself not breathing.

I tried and tried but there was nothing. I put my hands up to my neck and I felt a rope of fabric replacing where I could feel my neck.

I was choking and looked beside me to where Richie was and he was passed out on the ground. I saw a man dragging him away and then I blacked out.


	16. Chapter 16

This chapter is going to be written in Richie's perspective. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't get confused.

My eyes opened suddenly as I saw nothing but blurryness around me.

I put my hands up to my face and realized that I couldn't see anything because my glasses weren't on.

I felt around me, realizing that wherever I was, it was moving.

When my hands felt my large glasses, I brought them up to my face and put them on.

I looked around and saw that I was in a van of some sort. There was no light except for a lightly dimmed one on the ceiling of the vehicle.

I looked around more and saw Jessica's limp body on the opposite side of the van.

I quickly crawled over to her wondering what happened.

She wasn't moving and I started getting worried. I checked her pulse and there _was_ a beat. She was breathing so I assumed she was just knocked out.

There was a wall next to her which I assumed that on the other side was the drivers and passengers seat.

I banged on the wall and yelled, "Let us out! Where are you taking us!"

"Shut up!" I heard on the other side in a low, stern voice. "We're almost there!"

 _Oh God,_ I thought. _We're getting kidnapped. This isn't good. Oh God, help us._

I glanced back over at Jessica who was peacefully asleep.

I hated to do this but I had to make her wake up so she knew what was going on.

I put my hand gently on her shoulder and started shaking her.

She wasn't waking up and my emotions started getting to me. I started to cry and felt hopeless.

I picked up her fragile hand and brought it to my lips and kissed it." Come on Jessica... wake up... please."

It took a moment, but she finally started to move. When she was awake, she looked around for a second probably wondering where the heck we were and then she looked at me.

"W... what happened?" She said, lifting herself up and putting her back on one of the van walls. 'Where are we?"

I sighed. "I don't know what happened but I know that we are in a van of some sort, probably getting kidnapped.

She put her head in her hands and started weeping. "Why?"

"Why what?" I could tell she was scared. I wanted to do something to make her feel better but I didn't know what.

She looked up at me, her eyes showed fear. "Why, why are there people like this in the world? People that want to harm other people for no reason, just for satisfaction."

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I don't know." I whispered.

That's when I felt the truck stop and heard the back door unlocking.

When the door opened, I saw a man, probably in his early forties. I glanced behind him and saw that we were parked in a parking lot. The building in front of us looked old and abandoned. _Great, what are we doing in an abandoned parking lot? He's probably gong to give us drugs or alcohol or something that's gonna make us sick and then kill us._

I thought too soon because that's when the man pulled out a bottle and set it on the floor of the van. I couldn't see what the lable said but I knew it was some sort of beer. It was only a half full but since the bottle was pretty big, that alcohol could go a long ways.

"You know, this isn't the first time I dealt with people like you." Jessica shot at him.

The man thought for a second. "Really? You've dealt with other kidnappers before?"

She nodded.

"Really? Please, tell me their names. Maybe we can trade telephone numbers and meet up for tea and biscuits, and stuff like that, and find other people that we could start a club with." He responded.

 _What a smart mouth_. I thought.

"Please, just let us go." Jessica begged.

"The only way that we will let you go is if you drink the rest of this bottle y the time we get back to the lake." The man said.

"W... what?" Jessica exclaimed. "What is i... it?"

"It's alcohol, you dumb ass. Only _you_ can drink it all."

I raised my eyebrows. Why only her? She can't drink all of that. You could kill her!"

He laughed in a menacing tone. "This wont kill her... it'll just... make her really drunk and that's the fun of it." He looked back at Jessica. "If you don't finish this by the time we get back, which is a twenty minute drive, than that's when we get to keep you." He handed her a brown grocery bag. "Use this so you don't make a mess in my van... Bobby will be back here with both of you so there is no funny business."

"Why are you doing this to her?" I said scared but pretty pissed at this psychopath.

The man laughed again as another man got in the back of the van with us.

He was a very buff guy and could probably kill someone in one second. he had piercings all over his body and was wearing ripped clothes.

The man put handcuffs on me so I wouldn't be able to move my arms.

"Hey!" I said at his face.

He didn't respond.

When he was finished he sat back down and said, "good luck," laughing.

I looked at Jessica and saw she was crying pretty hard. I just wanted to go over to her and hug her. She didn't deserve any of this.

I felt the van start to move and that's when I gave her the eye. I knew she could do this, no matter how wrong it was.

She picked up the bottle ad unscrewed the lid slowly. She smelled it and her face scrunched up in disgust. She looked up at me.

"Come on Jessica, I know you can do this." I said.

"But I'm only fifteen... I... I'm too young to drink." She replied.

I saw the man in the corner of the van eyeing her. "Listen bitch! Just drink the damn alcohol! I need to see some action."

"Don't call her a bitch!" I snapped at him without thinking about it.

He grunted. "Do you _want_ me to kill you?!" He said angrily.

"No," I responded quickly. "I'm sorry."

I looked back at Jessica and saw her put the bottle to her lips. She took a small sip and scrunched her face up even more. "This is disgusting."

"Just think that we get to live and go back home if you finish it." I said, telling her that if she didn't finish it than we may never see the light of day again.

With that, she took a deep breath and drank three gulps of the liquid. She looked at me and gagged. She reached for the plastic bag and threw up. She wiped her mouth and looked back at me. "I can't do this."

A tear rolled down my face. "Just take it slowly." I said softly.

She nodded her head and took another sip of the alcohol. Then another.

"Ten minutes left." I heard the man in the front say while banging on the wall.

I heard the man next to us laugh again.

I looked at the bottle. She didn't even drink a quarter of what she was suppose to yet.

The man next to us got up and sat in front of Jessica. He yanked the bottle out of her hands and forced her to drink more.

She refused and the man slapped her across the face. "DRINK IT!" He yelled as he started pouring the liquid into her mouth.

I could see her struggling to get air and to make it stop while she was gulping it down.

When the man stopped and let her take a breath, she gasped for air. She panted and looked at me with bloodshot eyes. She reached for the bag and threw up a few times more.

She started crying again, leaving more dried tears on her cheek. "I... I can't do it." She said starting to get loopy.

She didn't drink anything for a few minutes.

Before long, I heard the man on the other side of the wall say, "one minute."


	17. Chapter 17

When we were walling back home, i had to keep both mine and Jessica's balance since she wasn't walking straight. This was aweful, I thought to myself. She wasn't even twenty-one and she was forced to drink, and now she's drunk. I wondered what she was thinking. I still don't know why those men just made her drink alcohol. It seemes unusual to me. Normally when people kidnap you, they kidnap you. Not kidnap you and then make you chug doen alcohol and let you go. That's just not logical.

When we got home, I sat down on the couch, exhausted. I watched as Jessica was loopy and started singing out of tune and dancing around in circles. Her words were mumbly.

Yep, she was definitely drunk.

She was all giggily.

"Are you okay Jessica?" I asked.

"Yes Richie, I'm great!" she replied giggling. "Are YOU okay?!"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

I turned to her. "Because you're drunk and I don't know what to do."

She pouted. "I'm not drunk Richie. Why would I be drunk? You know what you need?"

"What," I sighed.

"Some music!" She walked crookedly to he radio player next to the television set.

I heard Casey Kasem's voice for a moment and then a song started playing that I didn't recognize.

I saw Jessica start jumping up and down while clapping her hands. She was acting like a little kid. "Oh my Godddd!" she said. "Do you hear what's playing right now?! Do you even know what this song is?"

"No," I replied, shaling my head. "Do you-"

"How do you NOT know this song?! It's... it's, I forgot but it's soooo good. I'm gonna dance. You should dance. We should both dance... together," she giggled, smiling at me with her drunk, dazziling eyes.

"Eh... I don't think so Jessica." I got up and started walking to the kitchen. "Dancing to party songs make me tired, and I'm already tired... so I'll pass."

"You wimp," she teased.

I turned around. "I'm not a wimp."

"Yes ya are," she smiled, biting her bottom lip.

"I'm not and you know it!"

"Then dance with me. It'll be fun," she said, moving closer to me. She grabbed my hands and started jumping up and down.

I guess I joined in at one point because when the song was over, I was all worn out. It was like one of those five or six minute songs. I got up from the couch to get some water since my throat was sore. I couldn't imagine how sore Jessica's throat was, so I got her a glass of water too. I took a sip out of my glass and walked back into the living room. I saw that Jessica had fallen asleep on the couch. I smiled at her and sighed. At leaat she was asleep and not going all crazy anymore.I knew that she'd be hungover tomorrow morning.

She didn't look all that comfortable so I walked over to her and picked her up so I was cradiling her in my arms. She was very warm and moved a little.

I tried to be careful when I walked up the stairs so I wouldn't drop her. She was heavy too, probably no more than ten or fifteen pounds lighter than me.

When I walked into her bedrom, I didn't bother tirning on the light. I walked over to her bed and lyed her down. I pulled the covers over her body. "Goodnight," I wispered. I kissed her forehead. "I love you Jessica." I made my way back to the hallway and looked at her once more bfire I quietly shut her bedroom door.


	18. Chapter 18

When we were walling back home, I had to keep both mine and Jessica's balance since she wasn't walking straight. This was awful, I thought to myself. She wasn't even twenty-one and she was forced to drink, and now she's drunk. I wondered what she was thinking. I still don't know why those men just made her drink alcohol. It seemed unusual to me. Normally when people kidnap you, they kidnap you. Not kidnap you and then make you chug down alcohol and let you go. That's just not logical.

When we got home, I sat down on the couch, exhausted. I watched as Jessica was loopy and started singing out of tune and dancing around in circles. Her words were mumbly.

Yep, she was definitely drunk.

She was all giggly.

"Are you okay Jessica?" I asked.

"Yes Richie, I'm great!" she replied giggling. "Are YOU okay?!"

"Not really."

"Why not?"

I turned to her. "Because you're drunk and I don't know what to do."

She pouted. "I'm not drunk Richie. Why would I be drunk? You know what you need?"

"What," I sighed.

"Some music!" She walked crookedly to he radio player next to the television set.

I heard Casey Kasem's voice for a moment and then a song started playing that I didn't recognize.

I saw Jessica start jumping up and down while clapping her hands. She was acting like a little kid. "Oh my Godddd!" she said. "Do you hear what's playing right now?! Do you even know what this song is?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "Do you-"

"How do you NOT know this song?! It's... it's, I forgot but it's soooo good. I'm gonna dance. You should dance. We should both dance... together," she giggled, smiling at me with her drunk, dazzling eyes.

"Eh... I don't think so Jessica." I got up and started walking to the kitchen. "Dancing to party songs make me tired, and I'm already tired... so I'll pass."

"You wimp," she teased.

I turned around. "I'm not a wimp."

"Yes ya are," she smiled, biting her bottom lip.

"I'm not and you know it!"

"Then dance with me. It'll be fun," she said, moving closer to me. She grabbed my hands and started jumping up and down.

I guess I joined in at one point because when the song was over, I was all worn out. It was like one of those five or six minute songs. I got up from the couch to get some water since my throat was sore. I couldn't imagine how sore Jessica's throat was, so I got her a glass of water too. I took a sip out of my glass and walked back into the living room. I saw that Jessica had fallen asleep on the couch. I smiled at her and sighed. At least she was asleep and not going all crazy anymore.I knew that she'd be hungover tomorrow morning.

She didn't look all that comfortable so I walked over to her and picked her up so I was cradling her in my arms. She was very warm and moved a little.

I tried to be careful when I walked up the stairs so I wouldn't drop her. She was heavy too, probably no more than ten or fifteen pounds lighter than me.

When I walked into her bedroom, I didn't bother turning on the light. I walked over to her bed and laid her down. I pulled the covers over her body. "Goodnight," I whispered. I kissed her forehead. "I love you Jessica." I made my way back to the hallway and looked at her once more before I quietly shut her bedroom door.


	19. Chapter 19

I woke up and automatically didn't feel well. I hurried to the bathroom and knelt over the toilet. I threw up a couple times and Richie ran into the bathroom. I think he knew what was happening and pulled back my hair so it was out of my face. I threw up another time and just stayed there, not knowing what to do. I knelt there for another minute and then Richie helped me to my feet.

"Come on Jessica, you should probably get some rest. I think you have a hangover," he sighed. "You should just take it easy today. I'll go get you some water and that should help with your stomach a little," he said walking me back to my bedroom.

I nodded my head and slowly got into the sheets on my bed. "What if your mom asks what's wrong?"

He paused for a second and I could tell that he was thinking of an answer. "I'll just tell her that you think you ate something bad and you don't feel well."

"Okay," I said, feeling a little guilty for lying.

He kissed my forehead then left my room. He came back a couple minutes later glass of water. I drank the whole glass pretty quickly.

Richie stared at me. "Wow, thirsty much?"

"Yeah, I guess. My throat was really dry," I responded, feeling better… sorta.

"Do you think you'll be okay?" he asked.

"I think so."

He took the glass out of my hands. "I'm going to go down and get you more water and some breakfast."

I stopped him. "I'm not hungry."

"Jessica, you need to get food in your system. It'll help with your stomach ache a little and it will help the hangover go away quicker."

"And how do _you_ know that?"

He looked at me with a straight face. "Because I pay attention in school and we learned that during the alcohol unit in health class."

I laid down my head. "Yeah, well, I'm not hungry right now and my head is pounding. I just need some rest and then I'll get food later when I _am_ hungry."

"Okay," he backed off. "But you won't be getting any of my mom's famous pancakes," he teased.

I did love his mother's pancakes and I wish I was in the mood to eat some, but I wasn't and I was tired. "Maybe next time," I said, shrugging it off.

When he left my room, I turned to my side and my eyelids felt heavy, so I closed them.


	20. Chapter 20

When I opened my eyes again, I surprisingly felt better. Not one hundred percent, but well enough to get out of bed.

I turned my head and found a glass of water. My throat was still a bit dry, so I drank a lot of it at once.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was two-thirty in the afternoon. I found that my stomach was growling and realized that I got my appetite back. When I stood up, my vision went black for a second as I was getting used to my surroundings again. When it cleared up, I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I looked like a wreck! My mascara was smudged all around my face and I had dry sweat all over me. I decided to take a quick shower and wash my face before I went downstairs.

The cold water from the fawcett felt good on my hot, sweaty skin.

When I jumped out of the shower, I put on a fresh pair of clothes.i put on a patel blue crop top and a pair of high waisted acid washed jeans. Sometimes, I wondered if the style of clothing would change in the future.

I didn't feel like blow drying or styling my hair, so I just let it be. Besides, it was very warm in the house, so my hair should dry fast.

When I went downstairs, Miss. Adler looked at me with a smile. "I'd thought you'd never come you feeling better?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, a little." I looked at the refrigerator. "I'm hungry so I was going to get some food." I walked to the fridge, knowing what I wanted . I wanted some of the leftover pizza from the night before. Miss. Adler made it for us before she went to her book club meeting. She was a great cook! I opened the refrigerator and looked around. "Hey, do you happen to know where the pizza from last night is?" I turned around and saw her shrug.

"Sorry," she sighed. "Richie ate the last pieces."

I opened my eyes wide. "He what?! I was looking forward to having that."

"I could always make another one later this week."

I sighed. "Hopefully he doesn't eat all of _that_ too," I said with a small smirk on my face. "But it's fine. I'll just make myself a salad."

"Okay," she responded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't feel bad, I'll just find a way to get back at him," I giggled. I made my food, ate it, and went back upstairs. I knocked on Richie's bedroom door and let myself in. I was that he was sitting at his desk, working on something on his computer.

"He-llo Jess-i-ca," Ralf said in his robot voice.

I put my hands on my hips and called out to Richie. "Richie, I heard that you ate the last pieces of the pizza your mom made."

He turned around in his chair and shrugged. "Well someone had to eat it."

I rolled my eyes. "Well then, I get to eat most of it when your mom makes it later this week."

"Not unless I get to it first," he teased.

I walked over to him, changing the subject. "So, what are you doing?"

He turned back to his computer. "Well Ralf is running a few programs for Farley and is also doing some research on the person that had drugged you, the man who shot you, and the guy who made you get drunk.

Ralf was the name of Richie's computer system that he programmed himself, and Farley was his friend that works for the L.A. Gazette. Richie helps him to find things wrong and solving 'crimes'... you could say.

"Well, are you having any luck?" I asked.

Actually, I am," he responded. "I think I found the guy who drugged you.I tried calling Farley,but he wasn't in. The lady who answered said that he would be back at any time now and she'd let him know to give me a call back," he sighed. "But as for the other people, Ralf is still scanning, and I don't think that I'll find the man who shot you since I didn't have enough information about him. I also didn't see him that day, so I wouldn't know how to describe him."

"So what was up with the man that you _did_ find? Did he have a record or something?"

He slowly brought up a file document on the computer. "Yeah," he said, pointing to part of the screen. "If you look here, he has a record for killing three people and, uh… molesting five teens."

I almost felt like getting sick and my eyes widened. "That's awful! Those poor people," I exclaimed.

"He also… escaped from prison about five months ago."

"What _if_ you found the right guy? What could Farley do about it?"

He turned to me. "He would notify the court and hopefully close the case."

"Do you know where this guy is living?"

He paused and then spock a moment later. "I looked over a few other documents and it looks like he's staying at the motel down the road."

"Is that good or bad?" I asked.

"Uh, it's a little bit of both. See, it's good because we could easily get to im and bring him to jail. But, it's also bad because he's in an area where there are a lot of kids, who could be potential targets."

That's when the phone rang.

Richie looked beside him where the phone was and picked it put it to hisear. "Hello?" He turned to me. "It's Farley."He looked down. "Yeah… uh-huh… yeah, found out where he's staying… yeah… he's at the Light Inn Motel… okay, I'll put his records and stuff onto a disc and drop it by later today… okay… bye." He set the phone back down on its stand and stood up.

"You know, I really appreciate it," I said, breaking the silence.

Richie turned to me and looked puzzled. "Appreciate what?"

"I appreciate you doing this. For trying to find these people that hurt me when they didn't do anything to you."

He smiled. "Well, I love you right? And I just want to make sure that no one hurts you _or_ anyone else. Those people shouldn't be out there, doing that stuff. They messed with the wrong girl, and now they are going to get what they deserve." He gave me a hug. "You don't deserve anyone to hurt you, Jessica," he said putting some of my hair out of my face and behind my ears.

I smiled at him and the room went silent.

We both leaned in and when our lips touched, it felt like sparks were flying all around.

Everytime we kissed, it felt different, but the same in a way and I loved it. I always felt loved and I felt like I got to know him better, even if there wasn't a conversation going on.

I was so lucky to have him in my life.


End file.
